Gotham Roller Derby is a flat track

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

league based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Founded in late 2003, Gotham is the first flat track roller derby league in the metropolitan New York area and a founding member league of the sport's governing body, the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

(WFTDA). Gotham is one of the preeminent leagues in roller derby, having won five

WFTDA Championships The International Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championships ("WFTDA Championships" or "Champs" for short) are the leading competition for roller derby leagues. The Championships are organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association ( ...

. Today, the league is composed of four New York City-based teams, three travel teams, a competitive developmental team, a non competitive recreational program and a juniors program for youth.

League structure

Home Teams

Gotham consists of four home teams that represent four of the city's boroughs that do not reflect the residences of the skaters. These team play interleague games against each other, culminating in the annual championship game. Each team is supported by a "Jeerleader" squad and consists of 16 skaters who were drafted from a pool. * The Brooklyn Bombshells (founded 2004) * The Manhattan Mayhem (founded 2004) * The Queens of Pain (founded 2005) * The Bronx Gridlock (founded 2006)

Travel Teams

The league consists of travel teams that play against other leagues. * The Gotham All-Stars - The all star travel team competes against other leagues' A teams in the

. Members are selected via a tryout process, and many also play for home teams. * The Wall Street Traitors - An "all-borough" travel team which competes as Gotham's B Team against other leagues, composed of skaters from the home teams. Like the All-Stars, the team is selected through a tryout process. * The Grand Central Terminators - An additional travel team debuted in June 2012, for exhibition games with other leagues, composed of skaters from all four home teams and the Diamond District who are neither on the All-Stars nor on the Traitors. * The Diamond District - A team comprising rookie skaters and veterans who are not members of the home teams. The District operates as both a developmental team, with skaters who may or may not enter the draft, and as a team with veteran skaters that plays other leagues.

Junior Derby

*Gotham Junior Derby - an educational program set up in 2012 to train

junior roller derby Junior roller derby is the sport of roller derby, modified for children and adolescents up to 18 years of age. The sport is played in both modified-contact, known as "positional blocking," and full-contact approaches, to facilitate safety across m ...

skaters age 6-17. The juniors skaters compete against other leagues and play in exhibition bouts.

Tryouts

To join Gotham, skaters must complete tryouts that occur annually in October before they become the league's newest inducted skaters. Skaters tryout over a weekend then advance to tryout period lasting several weeks before they become official league members.

League History

Early Years

Karin "Chassis Crass" Bruce and David "Lefty" Leibowitz met through an online ad in 2003 and together formed the organization as Gotham Girls Roller Derby, initially recruiting skaters and holding "open skate" sessions. In 2004, Gotham hosted their first exhibition bout, the "Beat Down in the Boogie Down," at The Skate Key, where a crowd of 600 watched the Brooklyn Bombshells defeat the Manhattan Mayhem in overtime. In 2005, Gotham launched its first full season at The Skate Key, with a roster of 20-25 skaters. After two games between Manhattan and Brooklyn, the league introduced the Queens of Pain, who became the first Gotham Season Champions. In 2006, the league introduced its fourth home team, the Bronx Gridlock. In 2007, The Skate Key closed and the league secured a practice space called the Crash Pad. The league began holding season bouts at City College of New York and Hunter College. That same year, the Brooklyn Bombshells defeated the Long Island Roller Rebels All-Stars, and the Manhattan Mayhem defeated all-stars from the New Jersey Dirty Dames in a double-header. In 2008, Gotham added more interleague play and held eight bouts at Hunter College. The Wall Street Traitors played teams from Philly, Connecticut, and New England, while the Brooklyn Bombshells and Manhattan Mayhem won against Montreal and Providence, respectively.

Today

Since 2010, the league has practiced out of a second Crash Pad location in Bushwick. In recent years, Gotham home teams play against each other at John Jay College and Abe Stark Arena. The league consists of roughly 150 skaters and officials. In 2021, the league announced a rebrand and shortened its name to Gotham Roller Derby, "better reflect our community and the evolution of our sport".

WFTDA Competition

The Gotham Girls All-Stars lost their first inter-league bout in September 2005, against the Dairyland Dolls of

Mad Rollin' Dolls Madison Roller Derby (MRD), founded as "Mad Rollin' Dolls", is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 2004, Madison is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), and was the fou ...

of Madison, Wisconsin, 82-72. In February 2006, the All-Stars competed at the first

WFTDA The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues C ...

-sanctioned roller derby tournament, the Dust Devil, in Tucson, Arizona where they finished in 10th place. The All-Stars are five-time Women's Flat Track Derby Association champions, winning the

Hydra trophy The Hydra Trophy is the trophy awarded to the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) team that wins the WFTDA Championship Tournament at the conclusion of every WFTDA roller derby season. Named in honor of Hydra, founding member of the WF ...

in 2008 and from 2011 through 2014. From the introduction of the WFTDA Division system in 2013 through March 2017, Gotham was continuously the top-

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

league in the organization until

Victorian Roller Derby League The 'Victorian Roller Derby League'' (VRDL or Victoria) is a flat track roller derby league based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2007, VRDL provides opportunities for all ages and at all levels to participate and compete in Roller Derby. VR ...

took over top spot. In 2018, Gotham received a bye directly to

, by placing within the top four teams overall, as the third seed, in the June 30 rankings. At Championships in New Orleans, Gotham won the bronze medal with a 164-151 victory against

Denver Roller Derby Denver Roller Derby (DRD) is a flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. The league was founded in December 2005. Denver Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), joining in December 2007 as D ...

Rankings

* ''bye = received bye directly to WFTDA Championships''

In the Media

Gotham Roller Derby has been featured in major publications and outlets, including the New York Times, ESPN, the Wendy Williams Show, The Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Refinery29. In the 2010s, home bouts were telecast on NYC Life, the flagship station of

NYC Media Group NYC Media is the official public radio, television, and online media network and broadcasting service of New York City, which has been called the media capital of the world. The network oversees four public television channels, a public radio sta ...

, the official TV, radio and online network of the City of New York. In October 2011, Gotham skater Suzy Hotrod was featured photographed without clothing in

ESPN Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year i ...

's annual "The Body Issue," representing roller derby alongside athletes from many other mainstream American sports.

League champions and Major Awards

League Champions are determined in an end-of-season playoff bout and additional award winners are determined by poll of league members. The C.A.N.T.S.L.E.E.P. award is the "Crass Award for Never-Tiring Support for the League with Endless Enthusiasm and Positivity," named for league founder Chassis Crass, and awarded to one league member each year. The current champions of the 2019 Gotham Girls Roller Derby home team season are the Bronx Gridlock.

Retired Numbers

* 11 - Chassis Crass * 340 -

Bonnie Thunders Nicole Williams (born 1983), known as Bonnie Thunders, is a roller derby skater. Widely considered to be one of the greatest players of modern roller derby, Bonnie Thunders has been referred to by multiple writers as "the LeBron James of roller de ...

In May 2009, the league retired the uniform number of league founder Chassis Crass. Her framed Brooklyn Bombshell retired uniform hangs at Manitoba's, 99 Avenue B in Manhattan. In December 2016 at Gotham's end-of-year awards night, Bonnie Thunders' jersey was retired by the league.

References

External links

Gotham Roller Derby YouTube page

Gotham All-Stars on Flat Track Stats
(independent ranking analysis) {{New York Sports 2003 establishments in New York City Non-profit organizations based in New York City Roller derby leagues established in 2003 Roller derby leagues in New York (state) Sports competitions in New York City Sports teams in New York City Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 1